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Two things:
1. If you set NLS_LANG to us7ascii on export (we8iso8859p1 charset on db) that would not do you any good - will get another error. Just do not set NLS_LANG at all on export and run export with log option - you will see that export will be done in us7ascii by default! On import do not set NLS_LANG at all either.
2. There is a bug between 8.0.5 and 8.1.x on export/import (don't remember though whether it's from 8.1.x or from 8.0.x...). But workaround is as follows: do export/import through network. The bug is because executibles are so different that there is no fix - just a workaround. I would have found this bug for you - but you are right - Metalink is so slow today!!!
Alla

Alla S. Pfauntsch
Oracle DBA
========================================
"Life is what happens while you are planning something else".

Thanks for the reply, you were right about setting NLS_LANG and trying over again, different error (same basic message though), but same result.

Metalink seems to have sped up, I'm looking for all the docs I can find on IMP-00038. I searched bugs, nothing too exact came back but I'm browsing a few that might be applicable.

I'm not sure what you meant by exporting over the network. From what I gathered I should at least try exporting without NLS_LANG, and importing without NLS_LANG and crossing my fingers. Were there other steps involved in what you were suggesting?

I found [url]http://support.oracle.com/metalink/plsql/ml2_documents.showDocument?p_database_id=FOR&p_id=78400.998[/url]

However I had the same problems as the guy when trying to alter the database, it said the new characterset (WE8ISO8859P1) must be a superset of old character set (US7ASCII). Everything was correct in sys.props$.

Digging around for more, everything seems to be correct as far as some of the other notes i've seen. setting ORA_NLS, etc.

When I tried to export and then import without NLS_LANG set (although ORA_NLS was still set), I got IMP-00068 instead. Not as much material in metalink on that one.

Hate to bring you bad news but ALTER DATABASE command that you referenced is supposed (and working as expected) only in 8i. If you had to use it on 8.0.x, you may be getting more problems in the future... Also, us7ascii has the 8th bit anyway , it's just not recognised so you are fine by letting export default to us7ascii even if sys.props$ states it's we8iso8859p1...
My advice - if you have an NLS question or problem - post it to Oracle Matalink forum where you will get a more accurate answer - no offence to this forum, it's just documentation on NLS is still not that good... Please trust me on that! Unless of course if you want to corrupt your database :-)

Alla S. Pfauntsch
Oracle DBA
========================================
"Life is what happens while you are planning something else".